Longbranch Studio

Legendary Panhandle cowboy Tom Blasingame, who was born in Waxahachie in 1898. He rode his first horse at the age of six. At ninety-one, he was still on the job at the JA Ranch south of Amarillo. Two days after Christmas in 1989, he dismounted his horse, Ruidosa, stretched out on the grass, folded his arms across his chest, and died.

Photo courtesy the JA Ranch, where Tom worked for 73 years.